Staple fiber opener



i a. E. SPALDINGIIQEIAL 2,418,126

STAPLE FIBER OPENER A ril 1, 1947.

Filed July 17, 1943 INVENTORS JOHN E. SPALD/A/ flA/V 8. x153 ATTORNEY.

atentetl Apr. 1. 1947 ram ornce STAPLE IEIBER GPENEB ohn Spalding, Nitro, and Dan B. Wicker,

- llunbar, W. l'a,

llelaware asslgnors to American Viscose Corporation, Wilmington,

DeL, a corporation of This invention relates to devices for wetopening clumps of fibers, such as cotton, wool and rayon staple.

It is an object of this invention to provide for the transferring of the fiber clumps through a pool, or preferably in succession through a series of pools, of liquid, such as water, formed in an inclined trough, in which pool or pools the fibers are temporarily retained submerged and subjected to a controlled, gentle agitation and from which they are removed by entrainment. A particular object of this invention is to so construct and arrange the wet-opening device as to assure the maintenance of the capacity of the liquid pool or pools and to prevent the accumulation of the fibers within the pool or pools or therebetween, thus assuring efficient and uniform opening action over long periods of time. These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing and the description thereof.

In the drawing, illustrative of the invention,

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional elevation of one embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the device of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an elevation showing another embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the device 01' Fig- 'ure 3.

In accordance with the invention, the fiber clumps and a liquid are delivered to the top of a chute or trough, the liquid-carrying bottom of which is inclined at an angle between 5 and 85 and preferably between about 30 and about 60 tothe horizontal. An inclination of about 45 is ordinarily best where such an angle can be accommodated. The bottom of the trough is provided with at least one baflle but preferably with a. series of transverse baffles or partitions which are preferably spaced along the trough at such distances apart that the fiber-containing liquid falling over the top of any one of the ballles will impinge upon the bottom of the trough in advance of or above the body of the liquid pool formed back of the next baflie so that excessive splashing and irregular transference of the fibers over the bailles are avoided. This distance between bafiles, where a plurality thereof is used, may be varied widely but is preferably such that 2 the condition just mentioned is met. This preferred minimum limiting distance is shorter, the less steep the inclination o! the trough. Where a single ballle is used, it may advantageously be disposed at or near the discharge end of the chute.

The lip-stream face of the baflles may be set at right angles to the bottom of the trough or it may be set at less abrupt an angle thereto to streamline the flow, the latter arrangement being preferable where the inclination of the trough is at a lower angle up to about 30 to the horizontal. The downstream side of the bailles may also be sloped gently to the trough bottom rather than at right angles thereto if desired.

Additional liquid may be, and preferably is, supplied to the bottom of the liquid pool or pools to assist. the agitation thereof, to assist the regular propulsion of the fiber-containing liquid over the bafile, and to assure that the fibers are only temporarily retained in the pool by preventing their battles may be used. They may be of the same. ihape, though each baille as shown is of a differ-.

ent shape to illustrate some or the various shapes that may be used. While the baffles are shown equidistantly spaced, they may as well be irregularly spaced provided they are spaced at least a sufiicient distance so that the fiber-containing liquid falling over the tops of baflles 5 and B strike the bottom 4 of the trough above the level of the pools formed back of the baflles 6 and 'l I respectively.

The transfer of the fibers from the conveyor 2 to the trough 3 may be assisted by the washing action of a liquid spray from fan-shaped nozzles 8 which plays downwardly upon the top of the 'overrunning belt portion and by the action of a liquid spray from fan-shaped nozzles 9 directed upwardly to graze and play upon the underside of the belt 2. A plurality of fan-shaped nozzles I0 provide a sheet or film of the liquid from the top of the trough andauxiliary spray nozzles II are shown above the trough. The bottom of the trough is provided with a row of approximately horizontal passages l2 just above each baflle but well below the liquid level in the pool backed up thereby. These passages communicate by pipes l3 with a header to which the liquid is forced by a suitable pump (not shown). The liquid forced into the pools near their bottoms through the passages l2 assists in preventing accumulation of fibers in the corner formed between the baflle's 5, 6 and 1 and the inclined bottom 4 of the trough, assists the gentle agitation of the fiber-containing liquid in the pools, and helps to provide uniform and dependable propulsion of the liquid suspension fibers over the topsof the baflles.

Figures 3 and 4 showan adaptation of the invention for service in direct combination with a form of staple fiber cutter of the type disclosed in Berla Patent No. 1,723,998. The continuous filamentary tow is fed downwardly into the axial bore I4 in the rotating cutter disk [5. This disk ls-provided with a radial channel terminating in the opening Hi from which the end of the'tow to be cut projects. Two stationary knives I! are positionedat opposite sides of the cutter disk and the inclined troughs III are positioned near the knives so that the fiber clump cut by each of the knives is received by the corresponding trough. The troughs are provided with baflles l9 spaced apart as described above. nozzles 20 are arranged to play upon the top of the troughs to form a sheet or film of liquid flowing over the bottoms thereof. These nozzles may be supplied from acommon header 2| which may also, if desired, feed a certain amount of the liquid through pipe 23 into the-mouth H of. the cutter disk to lubricate the knives. Plates 22 arranged on the sides of the troughs back of .the knives serve to deflect back into the trough any liquid or wet fibers splashed from the bottom. of the trough, by virtue of the high velocity of impact Fan-shaped spray thereof against the troughbottom.

Any liquid at any temperature may be utilized for wet-opening provided such liquid has no,

deleterious action upon the fibrous material being treated. 'For freshly spun viscose staple. treatment with water at any temperature may 'be resorted to, but the most effective treatment seems to be obtained with water as temperatures of C. or higher. The wet opening may be performed on the staple at stages where it is susceptible to the development of crimp when thus treated. If desired, the wet-opening liquid may be a processing liquid. For example, cut staple of cellulose xanthate may biz-regenerated and opened simultaneously with the same liquid. Again, a cut viscose staple may be desulfurizedand opened in the same liquid; Similar combination of the opening and the processing of other artificial or even natural fibersmay be-applied in accordance with the present invention.

Wet opening of artificial staple fibers, such as of viscose rayon, in accordance with this inven- J tion results in .a staple fiber product which exhibits somewhat more crimp or curl, greater cohesion during drafting to yarns, and generally improved textile processing characteristics. It may advantageously be applied to cut staple prior to liquid treatment, in which case it renders the staple more susceptible'to uniform penetration and processing by the liquids, and the subsequent drying is more uniform and rapid.

The wet opening process of the present inven- 7 d tion relies solely upon transfer of the fibers into and out of a given pool, to effect controlled agitation therein to prevent accumulation of fibers and clogging of the chute, and to provide for uniform and dependable propulsion of the fibers through the pool. By avoiding mechanical action, filament tangling and breakage are substantially eliminated and economies are effected in equipment, operation thereof, and maintenance thereof.

It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a device for the treatment of fibers, a chute having an imperforate liquid-carrying bottom surface inclined to the horizontal, at least one transverse baflle in the chute projecting from its bottom and extending substantially horizon tally across the entire width of the chute, means for delivering fibers and introducing a liquid into the upper end of the chute whereby th fibers are suspended and carried in suspension over the bottom surface of the chute to at least one pool retained by a respective battle, and hydraulic means for gently agitating the fibers suspended in the pool and for removing the fibers from the pool, said hydraulic means comprising a gener ally horizontal row of openings in the chute botzontally across the-entire width of the chute, means for delivering fibers and introducing a liq-- uid into the upper end of the chute whereby the fibers are'carried in suspension over the bottom surface of the chute successively through pools retained by the several baflles andhydraulic means for gently agitating the fibers in thepools and for preventing accumulation therein, said hydraulic means comprising a generally horizontal row of openings in the chute bottom above each of the baffles below thesurface ofithe pool retainedthereby and means for forcing additional liquid through the openings into the chute comprising passages through thechute bottom communicating' with the openings and arranged to direct theadditional liquid toward the bailles.

3. In a device for the handling of fibers, a chute having an imperforate liquid-carrying bottom surface inclined between 5 and to the horizontal, a plurality of transverse bafiles in ,the chute each projecting from its bottom and extending substantially horizontally across the entire widthof thechute, means for delivering fibers to the upper end of the chute, means for introducing a liquid into the upper end of the chute whereby the fibers are carried in suspension over ,the bottom surface of the'chute successively hydraulic action to efiect' below the surface of the pool retained thereby, and means for forcing additional liquid through the openings into the chute comprising passages through the chute bottom communicating with the openings and arranged to direct the additional liquid toward the baffles.

JOHN E. SPALDING. DAN B. WICKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Kampf May 3, 1927 Number Number 6 Name Date Zetzsche et a1. July 13, 1937 Kleine et a1. Feb. 20, 1940 Bauer et a1 Dec. 9, 1941 Crocker Nov. 20, 1923 Eyrich Nov. 25, 1924 Dezurik Feb. 5, 1929 Tegetmeyer et a1. Dec. 22, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Date 7 Country British May 4,1936 British May 2, 1939 German Feb. 8, 1929 French May 15, 1937 

